Resident Evil 5 Comments by Dan Whitehead

See also the Mitchell and Webb sketch about the man phoned up by the news asking him, in his opinion, as someone whose wife was killed in a train accident, whether railway safety is good enough: "Well of course I don't think so, but you really should be asking someone less biased than me!"

Experience doesn't equal objectivity. Racism is objectively bad; subjective experience won't make you more accurate; it may make you more sensitive to it (fair enough) but it may easily make you over-sensitive.

@Eurytus

"A bunch of people who have probably never suffered racism in their lives"

So we don't know what racism is, or it's effects because we're not black and oppressed? What a stupid thing to say. Ive never been shot in the face with a blunderbuss stuffed with tacks, salt, chilli and lemons, but I know for a fact it would hurt like all hell.

Might make a tasty marinade too...

*loads blunderbuss*

Personally I have never liked the RE4 style controls, and I hate these ones just as much. But I could put up with it in RE4 as there were little to no other annoyances. With RE5 and Shitva I could scream sometimes. The AI is so utterly retarded. I haven't died once in the demo, but the AI gets killed constantly, even when I give her all the ammo.

As to the racist issue, EG loves a bandwagon and will jump on it merrily no matter how inane it is.

"Because of that, my opinion is that Capcom have been perhaps naive about the setting of the game or just think that it isn't a problem. I doubt they have tried to be racist on purpose as that would make no business sense whatsoever.

This is no longer a RE game, I think Capcom needs every publicity they can get.
Also the issues are known since 2007. If they really had wanted to change the general perception, they could have easily IMHO. Even more so as most things criticized are not really vital to the game (as pointed out in the review) and could have been modified.

Well, Gaol, I'd hoped it might inspire you to take another look at the problem. Not to worry.

There is one big, throbbing issue here, and the article already mentions it. It's about the power of imagery and the colonial, post-colonial or apartheid context that surrounds it. Whether you like it or not, the images of a white man shattering a black woman's skull will be taken out of context: that's the metier of the tabloid press, surely? And this before we even get into the appalling civil wars in, to pick one or two names out of a very large hat, the Democratic Republic of Congo or the Ivory Coast. Or Rwanda. Or Sierra Leone.

Then there's the context itself. Forget the Spaniards of RE4. What you're looking at here is a white clean-cut American and a Jackson-fied black girl carving up huge numbers of flesh-hungry Africans.

Seriously. You don't find something therein that makes you feel in the faintest bit uneasy?

Perhaps it's an age thing. And I don't mean that in any kind of patronising way. After all, I have no idea how old you are. But in my experience people who have grown up after, say, the removal of de Klerk and his ilk from power in South Africa, are less conscious of the power this sort of imagery has. Your first thought is not to see anything inherently racist in it. That's admirable. For those that grew up in a world where the issue was more pressing - and there's plenty of evidence to argue that endemic racism is as bad now as it's been in the last 50 years in the developed world - it's immediately evocative of a certain stereotype.

I don't want to sound arrogant about this. You have your world view, I have mine. If you don't see the problem, that's fine. You're surely able to see that others would, though. Right?

I have a hard time thinking that Capcom, when developing the new game about the undead or virus infected, deliberately chose to root through the history books and pick some fine examples of African behaviour as reported by the white foreigners and use them as set pieces in their game.

I think it's quite clear that they cherry picked the worst images of Africa from the current media, not the history books. They're not the only ones to do this in a videogame of course, but they've probably done it in the most insensitive way.

If I was working at Capcom and had some clout, I would be asking why the hell they were trying to cause a shitload of problems for the game and company by placing the game in Africa and making Africans look bad.

Absolutely. There are a number of ways in which they could have dealt with this. They have been unbelievably stupid. For some people, this will be one of those moments of awakening when you realise that the incredibly well paid and powerful people who run these big companies are just ordinary mortals, and not necessarily very bright.


Because of that, my opinion is that Capcom have been perhaps naive about the setting of the game or just think that it isn't a problem. I doubt they have tried to be racist on purpose as that would make no business sense whatsoever.

I completely agree with you, but racism through naivety still has all of the negative effects that deliberate racism has.

It's like someone who genuinely forgets to pay for something in a shop. Do you just let them go without telling what they just did?

"So we don't know what racism is, or it's effects because we're not black and oppressed? What a stupid thing to say. Ive never been shot in the face with a blunderbuss stuffed with tacks, salt, chilli and lemons, but I know for a fact it would hurt like all hell."

Know what?
No.
You don't understand racism in the same way as someone who suffers it.
Just as a man does not understand sexism in the way that a woman, who may live with it every day in her work does.

It says a lot that whenever something like sexism or racism comes up in relation to anything, whether its gaming, films or whatever, the first people to jump in stating that its not sexism or racism, its all political correctness gone mad are white males.

If that doesn't cause you to pause and think so be it.

Perhaps it's an age thing. And I don't mean that in any kind of patronising way. After all, I have no idea how old you are. But in my experience people who have grown up after, say, the removal of de Klerk and his ilk from power in South Africa, are less conscious of the power this sort of imagery has. Your first thought is not to see anything inherently racist in it. That's admirable. For those that grew up in a world where the issue was more pressing - and there's plenty of evidence to argue that endemic racism is as bad now as it's been in the last 50 years in the developed world - it's immediately evocative of a certain stereotype.

+ 1

I hadn't thought of that, but it certainly would explain why some people here genuinely have no idea what all the fuss is about.

i was really looking forward to Resident Evil 5 so i downloaded the trial game to try it out and i am very disappointed with what i have seen... the game feels sluggish.. i remember it being faster on the GameCube.. also its EXACTLY the same game play.. now i played resi4 to death must of completed it 4 or 5 times the shooting animations are the same.. the guns are the same.. you aim the same... the animations when the infected people get hit are the same and they even die the same way

I also feel it was really hard to aim? the you cant even see the laser sight on the pistol to aim with it (looks like its bluetac again) the atmosphere isn’t good either.. i liked the gloomy resi4 and the fact that it actually looked dark rather than a stroll through some desert..

Ahh well looks like one game i was looking forward to waited for like 3 years for this but now it can wait till its second hand, looks like crapcom are living up to their name on this one.. cus i bet it still gets 10/10 from all the review websites

bring on street fighter 4 ... TIGER UPPERCUT!

Don't really agree with the racism comments on the hands on. Call me crazy but I was brought up to believe all men are equal, so I don't really see how the argument that it's a problem because the bad guys are black really sticks up. Doesn't change the fact that in all the previous games it's been fine up till now for the baddies to act like d1cks but now it's not ok because there black? I don't believe in special treatment either.

@Eurytus: You are arguing as if the game intentionally tries to be racist. It isn't. It is set in a shit hole part of Africa, and they are really really shitty with some very loose morals. Ever travelled through some? Not the peoples fault directly, more corrupt government.

Africa has some barbaric areas, literally. As do many other countries. But Africa is set as the birth place of humanity, thus this game works there in context. Yes the Japanese are naive to many issues, but they aren't vindictive.

People who notice race or gender in environments and react to it are the racist/sexist/yadayada ones.

@Eurytus

Despite your high and mighty speech, my argument stands and is perfectly valid.

I don't have to be hurt by something to understand that it's something I should not inflict on others. The 'I'm different, you don't understand me' attitude is not the way to address opression of any kind, that sort of insular thinking can only make the situation worse.

to not choose Africa because of the potential race issue is racist and to take offence at black zombies is racist.
Africa is being portrayed as 'dark continent' on international television right now through 24 and there is no controversy over it, your arguments not only portray you as someone who feels black people should not be portrayed in media but also as someone who thinks games should be censored over other means i haven't played the game but your views are as anachronistic as the ones you feel so superior to.

¥75 billion(2006) corporations are not naive.

"@Eurytus: You are arguing as if the game intentionally tries to be racist. It isn't. It is set in a shit hole part of Africa, and they are really really shitty with some very loose morals. Ever travelled through some? "

Yes. I've been to the Congo, DRC, Angola, Gabon, Kenya and Tanzania and I never once saw a bunch of black people beating someone in a sack. Nor dragging off white women.

thesombrerokid,

'Africa is being portrayed as 'dark continent' on international television right now through 24 and there is no controversy over it, your arguments not only portray you as someone who feels black people should not be portrayed in media but also as someone who thinks games should be censored over other means i haven't played the game but your views are as anachronistic as the ones you feel so superior to.'

Someone else can most probably word this better but the difference between say the Blood Diamond and RE5 is that in the former you are only viewing the horror whilst in the latter you are an active participant.

Just my 2 cents on the matter

"@Eurytus

Despite your high and mighty speech, my argument stands and is perfectly valid."

If you believe your understanding of a type of bigotry is as comprehensive as someone who suffers from it then frankly it staggers me.
Though I'm not surprised going by the throng of people on this thread proudly stating that they see nothing racist in the imagery when they have never suffered from it.

¥75 billion(2006) corporations are not naive.

ROFL! That's only half a billion pounds sterling, and we've seen plenty of far bigger banks and investment companies in the US and UK go to the wall through sheer naivety within the last few months.

The Daily Mail? Opposed to stamping on funny coloured foreigner's heads? Surely you have the wrong newspaper...

"You sir, are a classic example of a racist."

Ignorance is not the same as racism.


There are several dictionary definitions of the word racist, but a reasonable concise summary is thus;

"hatred or intolerance of another race or other races"

It is perfectly possible for someone to be ignorant of circumstances, past and present, without malice or hate being a part of their point of view. Being able to tell the difference is surely mandatory in discussions like this, right?


The problem with discussions of this type (the reason I avoid such discussions in places where hardly anyone knows what the f*ck they are on about. i.e. here) is that people often use accusations of racism as a method of debate, to try and undermine those who disagree with them.

Edit: Furthermore, in this case I would suppose Capcom are perhaps guilty of ignorance, if nothing else.

@richarddavies
so I don't really see how the argument that it's a problem because the bad guys are black really sticks up

Good, because that isn't the argument being discussed here at all. You should at least read the article and some of the posts before giving your 2 cents.

This comments section has been quite the rollercoaster hasn't it

People whinging about the control scheme, who also moaned when Resi 4 on the Wii got 7/10

People whinging about racism, when the game is clearly setting out a story about people with a virus attacking you, and just happens to be in Africa. What is Chris Redfield supposed to do, worry if a a bunch of nobodies will criticize him for fighting back and let them chew his face off or should he fight back? He's not shooting them because they're black, he's shooting them because they're trying to kill him for fuck sake!

The only times I'm reminded about the race aspect of this game is when people bring it up for no reason. To me its a Resident Evil game about shooting infected people who are trying to attack you. End of.

"People whinging about racism, when the game is clearly setting out a story about people with a virus attacking you, and just happens to be in Africa. What is Chris Redfield supposed to do, worry if a a bunch of nobodies will criticize him for fighting back and let them chew his face off or should he fight back? He's not shooting them because they're black, he's shooting them because they're trying to kill him for fuck sake! "

Read the article. Not everyone who is attacking or displaying problematic behaviour is infected.

"You sir, are a classic example of a racist."

Ignorance is not the same as racism.


There are several dictionary definitions of the word racist, but a reasonable concise summary is thus;

"hatred or intolerance of another race or other races"

It is perfectly possible for someone to be ignorant of circumstances, past and present, without malice or hate being a part of their point of view. Being able to tell the difference is surely mandatory in discussions like this, right?


That is not a very good definition of racism at all, so let's be clear on that. Racism is (to quote the OED directly):

1. The belief that each race or ethnic group possesses specific characteristics, abilities or qualities that distinguish it as inferior or superior to another such group.

2. Discrimination against or antogonsim towards other races or ethnic gropus, based on such a belief.

Racism isn't necessarily about hate, it's about misguided beliefs, based on stereotypes. Whether or not you do this knowingly does not affect whether or not you are a racist.



The problem with discussions of this type (the reason I avoid such discussions in places where hardly anyone knows what the f*ck they are on about. i.e. here) is that people often use accusations of racism as a method of debate, to try and undermine those who disagree with them.


Yet you clearly have not even bothered to look up the word racism before joining this debate.

@Thunderbolt!
true there is a technical difference, but in this instance it's the setting he objects to not what the player does, he's objecting to the developer portraying Africa as a 'dark continent' where he fails to mention (right or wrong) that this image is portrayed all over mainstream media and states his surprise that this happens out side the 1920s.

I find it hard to believe he has failed consume the other media portraying this image, rather than failed to be offended by it, he's offended by the games setting because he's offended by games more easily than other media, which i find a surprising quality in a supposedly objective games journalist.

with regrads to gameplay, in my opinion most of his criticisms are about how it differs from the old broken RE games, the only valid critisim i could find was about AI.

@m0thr4
see antogonsim

Would you also argue that GTA: San Andreas was a racist game as the protagonist was a violent black man?

Some people in the press did argue that it reinforces negative social stereotypes. I didn't play it myself, so can't really comment.

Would you also argue that COD:WAW is racist and insensitive towards that Japanese as it portrays them as maniacal killers

Personally, I find dregding up past wars and conflicts as a setting for entertainment rather distasteful, so I don't play that sort of game. As to whether it is actually racist, does it encourage negative impressions of the Japanese as a race? You decide.

Is Africa somehow exempt from being the setting of a popular video game?

I sincerely hope not. If you actually read the original article above, it's not the fact that the game is set in Africa that causes some people offence. Nor is it the fact that the enemies are predominantly black.

so is the golliwog a playable character?

@m0thr4
see antogonsim

Right, and see how I said that racism "isn't necessarily about hate".

Also, you do understand that numbered dictionary definitions are hierarchical, don't you? The primary definition is the belief, and a secondary definition is the actions that result from that belief.

so is the golliwog a playable character?

WTMKF

I should probably comment that (for the benefit of those of you who don't listen to the news) that was an allusion to the racial furore over Ms Thatcher... dont get all mad on me.

i.e. the retard above. Kill file.... ha!

"Personally, I find dregding up past wars and conflicts as a setting for entertainment rather distasteful, so I don't play that sort of game"
*checks* apart from COD3, huh? :)

and stop chatting and go finish braid. I INSIST! also, IT'S RACIST NOT TO!

I find it hard to believe he has failed consume the other media portraying this image, rather than failed to be offended by it, he's offended by the games setting because he's offended by games more easily than other media, which i find a surprising quality in a supposedly objective games journalist.

The image I was referring to is the one that Capcom doesn't want us to reveal. It is not an image that has been seen as acceptable in any other media for many, many decades. If the same scene were to be used in a Hollywood action movie, there would definitely be protests.

I always found the movie Zulu terrifying which I 1st watched on a cinema screen when i was 7, I think thats where i get my irrational fear of dark people of African origin from.

I'm trying to undo that but this game has brought it all back.

"Personally, I find dregding up past wars and conflicts as a setting for entertainment rather distasteful, so I don't play that sort of game"
*checks* apart from COD3, huh? :)

Heh, nice try, but check again:

Call Of Duty 3
Last played: Wed, 16th Jan 08
4/26 Achievements unlocked
70/1000 Gamerpoints won

Does that look like a game I enjoyed... or one that I played for a few minutes before discarding?

@Dan

The image I was referring to is the one that Capcom doesn't want us to reveal. It is not an image that has been seen as acceptable in any other media for many, many decades. If the same scene were to be used in a Hollywood action movie, there would definitely be protests.

Yes, but when you sensationalise it like that, you only make some people want it more. Capcom could not have paid for better publicity than this... unless they did of course...

;-)

I would think that an African person watching Zulu at the cinema age 7 would be just as afraid of whiteys as I am of darkies, but our weapons seem more civilized than their spears.

Sounds from this like they've ditched everything that I actually liked about the Resi series, and have replaced it with a misguided multiplayer element that wasn't needed in the first place.

I honestly hope that devs realise that not all of the games that are made need to be online, and that sometimes a single player game with focus on intense gameplay and storytelling can be just as good, if not better than a game that has had multiplayer awkwardly crowbarred into it.

the funny thing is the only reason the race debate exsists with this game is because everyone knows japanesse people are racist

"Does that look like a game I enjoyed... or one that I played for a few minutes before discarding?"

presumably it would have only taken a cursory glance at the cover before your MUST..NOT..PLAY GAMES SET IN PAST CONFLICTS revulsion kicked in?

ww2 soooo had the best gameplay of all the wars. i fully endorse it.

the funny thing is the only reason the race debate exsists with this game is because everyone knows japanesse people are racist

Nice way to exemplify definition 1 of racism.

/rolls eyes

its the only way us germans can learn from our forefathers' mistakes. Shoot ourselves over and over.

@DanWhitehead
you've intrigued me, tbh i wish you'd made that more clear in the article though i wrote it of as 'capcom asks eg not to reveal plot point, eg twists it into racist debate' and so ignored it, if this is true i'd certainly take back most of what i said

@m0thr4
that was the point /rolls eyes

oh and you've got sand in your vagina about the WW2 thing

"That would also imply that ALL forms of media and literature that use elements of previous conflict as the basis of their theme are distateful"

Well, there's certainly an argument for that.

In England, the cretinous majority (or Sun readers, as we call them) still can't get past a simple football match against Germany without dredging up WW2 stereotypes and "Achtung, Spitfire" gags.

After all, the Nazis are the enemy it's ok to hate, right? Indiana Jones said it, so it must be so. And yet a minuscule percentage of these people were alive when the conflict occurred, most know piss-all about it, and even more have probably never met a German in their lives.

Then, going by the law of averages, the vast majority of German soldiers in both world wars were decent family men who were just doing what they were told. So, by extension, all the thousands of chaps you iron-sighted and headshot in COD left 2 grieving Wolfgangs and a Juliane behind.

@ Gecks

presumably it would have only taken a cursory glance at the cover before your MUST..NOT..PLAY GAMES SET IN PAST CONFLICTS revulsion kicked in?

If you must know, CoD3 was actually the turning point for me - exactly at the point where I stopped playing and traded my copy in back in January 2008 was where I started to wonder whether I should be deriving my entertainment from such realistic depictions of human suffering. What can I say... you get to a certain age (I'm in my late 30's) where you become much more aware of your own mortality and suddenly violence and suffering in games and movies starts affecting you a lot more.

I've tried a couple of similar games since (CoD4 and GRAW2 for example), but given up on them for similar reasons early on. I still like my dose of cathartic violence in video games, but the setting has to be a certain distance from reality.

That would also imply that ALL forms of media and literature that use elements of previous conflict as the basis of their theme are distateful, as ultimately they are forms of entertainment.

Well, unless there's a genuine educational angle to it, then yes.

EDIT: Usually that's the case... if you're talking about stuff like "Band of Brothers", "Saving Private Ryan" etc., then I think they inform as much as they entertain. It's a bit of a grey area. The CoD series is really little more than a shooting gallery though, but I'm not trying to preach here, just expressing my personal opinion.

is it me or is there a slight incongruency between the saviour of moral values welcoming me to his kill file? or does that have an educational slant?

@guernican

Yes we do have wildly different views. I think you're probably right about people's viewpoints being affected by their direct exposure to the effects of racism, though age is probably only one factor. On the point of whether I can accept that RE5 can be seen as racist, well on the evidence I've seen so far I believe objectively it isn't, and that people who find it so are probably a small minority for whom the 'imagery' has some personal connection with racism that is not of the game itself

Mr Whitehead seems to be holding something back though so we'll just need to wait and see, perhaps there is a motive beyond what is described in the article which will explain the fact that this came up again in such a big way.

"What Dan's article was pointing out, if you had bothered to read it properly, is that right now, at the time this game is being released, the Spanish are not the targets of constant negative stereotyping by the media as brutal, uncivilised murderers, whereas Africans are... and this game appears to be reinforcing that particular stereotype."

Negative stereotyping by the media? I know Robert Mugabe looks kinda funny, but he's not some cartoon character made up by the papers. He really DOES butcher people who oppose him you know. One or two of his mates give him a hand as well. They tend to be black Africans.

As a journalist, I know people who have been to Africa to cover stories of genocides that are being carried out as white, liberal apologists moan about a computer game. Parts of Africa have a reputation for being savage because they are. It's not racist to say that. I'd say it was just as savage if someone got his hands chopped off for voting Labour at a Tunbridge Wells by-election. The only thing is, that doesn't tend to happen (even though it should).

Oh, and Mugabe looks funny because of his moustache in my opinion...not because of his curly hair, which is probably what the politically correct dickheads thought I meant.

The level of ignorance perpetuating racist attitudes on this thread is incredibly depressing. I'll tell you a stereotype reinforcing itself here: most gamers aren't cultured.